The Campaign For DA

6.22.2017

A buddy up at the courthouse, who might play golf three to four times a year and describes himself as an "average" golfer, claims he can hit a drive 300 yards if he had a high-end/high-tech driver. He's never hit a drive that far before. The parameters were that the fairway had to be flat and that he could get up to 20 tries. I told him he's crazy.

This Bedford teenager went missing on Monday. Late yesterday, a body was found in a North Arlington landfill. Bedford cops went there and "are not confirming or indicating it's Kaytlynn, but instead say they are awaiting more information from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office." That wording doesn't sound promising.

The Special Counsel makes the cover of Time:

A potential perfect game by Justin Verlander was broken up last night in the sixth inning by a bunt (gif), and baseball purists went nuts because "It's an unwritten rule that you don't do that." That's just dumb.

The Rangers play at 1:05 today. In Arlington. In the heat.

I had someone tell me yesterday about the legend of hidden gold in Devil's Den on Lake Bridgeport. I had never heard that story. The best history of it is on page 17 of this pdf special lake edition of the Bridgeport Index from 2007. (It also has some great articles on the history of the lake and has an action shot of a former Bridgeport resident and current Waco criminal defense lawyer on the cover.)

Trump had one of his weird rallies last night -- this time in Cedar Rapids. This goes back to my theory that he needs to be loved. Putting him in front of an adoring crowd is good for his soul.

EDIT: And it got him back into campaign mode this morning:

Police say a 21 year old in Reno, Texas (by Azle) was arrested after her six month old drowned in a bathtub. They claim she was sending Facebook messages for 18 minutes instead of watching the child. (I think this is her Facebook page with is only partially public. If it is, she has two older kids as well.)

A few days back a lady stormed the stage of a production of Julius Ceaser in New York's Public Theater since it "portrayed Caesar as a Donald Trump look-alike who gets knifed to death on stage." It has been learned that the lady had registered a domain name prior to the incident which is currently being used as a website to solicit funds for her "legal defence." It's named FreeLaura.com even though she is not in jail.

The Karate Kid was released 33 years ago today.

Trip Advisor's best restaurants in Decatur. (Not a bad list/ranking but it gets a little funny when they run out of restaurants and get down to Subway and Taco Bell.)

The Senate released a draft of its healthcare bill late yesterday. Significantly, the bill proposes more cuts to Medicaid than the House bill. The WaPo provides a summary:

"The Senate proposal largely mirrors the House measure with significant differences, according to a discussion draft circulating Wednesday among aides and lobbyists. While the House legislation would peg federal insurance subsidies to age, the Senate bill would link them to income, as the Affordable Care Act does. The Senate proposal would cut off expanded Medicaid funding for states more gradually than the House bill but would enact deeper long-term cuts to the health-care program for low-income Americans. It also would eliminate House language aimed at prohibiting federally subsidized health plans from covering abortions, a provision that may run afoul of complex Senate budget rules."

The Senate bill is expected to head to the floor next week with a vote expected before July 4. No Democrats are expected to vote for the bill. Some Republicans have concerns, but it remains unclear how these Republicans will vote or whether the bill will be amended.

The Senate released a draft of its healthcare bill late yesterday. Significantly, the bill proposes more cuts to Medicaid than the House bill. The WaPo provides a summary:

Does this mean that we actually get to see what's in the bill and have time to call our senators if we disapprove of something as opposed to Obammycare that had to be passed so that we could see what's in it?

If he has a decent swing and very average equipment, there's no reason to think he couldn't get it right 5% of the time. Heck, in a normal round your driver only comes out of the bag a max of 14 times, less depending on the course layout.

For the ACA, House members spent nearly 100 hours in hearings, heard from 181 witnesses from both sides of the aisle, considered 239 amendments (both Democratic and Republican), and accepted 121 amendments.

The HELP Committee held 14 bipartisan roundtables, 13 bipartisan hearings, and 20 bipartisan walkthroughs on health reform. The HELP Committee considered nearly 300 amendments and accepted more than 160 Republican amendments.

The Senate spent 25 consecutive days in session on health reform, the second longest consecutive session in history. In total, the Senate spent more than 160 hours considering the health reform legislation.

Regarding Goobers comments (which everyone should read whether you agree or not) about Meuller in the helicopter post yesterday, I'm reminded of two things: the Senate doesn't have anyone as smart or honest as Sam Ervin anymore and the Republican Party doesn't have anyone with the honesty and integrity of Howard Baker. The man knew what honest representation of the Amercan people was regardless of party. And like Goober I remember those two years. The Saturday night massacre happened on my 18th birthday. And I also fear what this country and its elected officials are becoming.

2:06, If you think Meuller can be fair and partial, you are either stupid or blind or both. As I said earlier, he and Comey are tight as tics and he has been hiring Clinton lawyers and donors for the investigation. The money that will be wasted on this nothing burger will be humongous compared to Kenneth Starr.